Lawgiver
Manufactured by General Arms, the Lawgiver is the standard sidearm issued to Judges in the fictional world of the Judge Dredd comics. Several designs have been produced, and each is a multi-faceted weapon capable of firing a variety of ammunition from a single cartridge. Due to the high rate at which Judges are killed in the streets of Mega City One, each Lawgiver is equipped with several security features to help prevent one of these illustrious weapons from falling into the wrong hands. Security Features Each Lawgiver is programmed to recognize the palm-print of the authorized user registered to the weapon. If anyone else, including another Judge, attempts to use the weapon it will self-destruct in the user's hand, leaving them severely crippled or killed. However, recognising that this feature may interfere with a Judge performing their duties in the field, the Justice Department does maintain instructions on how to bypass the security feature. This information is only accessible by Senior Judges and above, and was demonstrated by Judge Dredd when one of his partners was killed during an investigation. 'Lawgiver MK I' The first sidearm seen used by Dredd and the other Judges. Unlike the blocky, black MK II, the Lawgiver MK I was silver in colour and much more slender, resembling a rifle scope with a pistol grip. The Lawgiver MK I was a multi-fire weapon capable of using various ammunition types. It had two dorsal (top) and two ventral (bottom) feeding magazine wells and used four double magazines that held 12 rounds on each side (for a total of 96 rounds). Magazines had to be manually selected and the shooter had to pick between ventral or dorsal feed. *'General Purpose (GP)': The standard lead alloy bullet. *'Armor-Piercing (AP)': A dense metal bullet meant to pierce body armor, cover, or a robot or vehicle's hardened metal chassis. *'Rubber Ricochet (RR)': A rubber bullet meant to hit a target at an angle. *'Incendiary (I)': Contains a compound that sets the target on fire and can burn or melt anything it touches. *'Grenade (G)': Fires a shell that explodes into fragments. *'High Explosive (HE)': Fires a shell that detonates, but has little fragmentation. *'Heat Seeker (HS)': The Heat Seeker round could track targets by their heat signature. It screwed on to the end of the barrel with a magnetic clamp. This automatically locked out the magazines and rendered it unable to chamber and fire the weapon's other ammo types. Judges carried them in special long pouches on the back of their gloves and carried 3 rounds per glove. The bullets are gyrojet projectiles fueled with Argon-88b. The 9-step dial on the side of the weapon shows the round's set velocity level ("1" being slowest and "9" being fastest). This can be automatically set by the gun's targeting computer or manually set by the shooter. The bullets have a range of 5 kilometers. At the back of the breach is the "Fast Focus" scope. It aims through the bore to provide the Judge with an exact sight picture. It has a visual range of 200 to 2000 meters and has Tele-Visual, Night Vision, and Infra-Red imaging modes. The HUD in the aiming reticule gives the shooter the target type (human, machine, or robot), velocity level (1-9), ammo type chambered, and magazine capacity. Target selection was done by a button on the grip controlled by the ring finger and the scope's fine tuning could be done by a dial on the grip controlled by the little finger. 'Lawgiver MK II' Introduced in 2120, the introduction of the then-new Lawgiver MK II was a bittersweet occasion for the members of the Justice Department. Many of the first examples had been sabotaged by Neros Narcos, the leader of "The Frendz" crime syndicate. When they received a remote signal, the weapons would simultaneously detonate, maiming and killing scores of Judges as the opening event of the Second Robot War in 2121. It was a distinct improvement over the earlier model. The magazines could be changed by using a vocal command. Ammo types received a number designation (1-6) and could be manually selected by using a dial on the side of the gun. The Lawgiver MK II is capable of firing the following different types of ammunition: #'Standard Execution - '''Ammunition used in response to generic situations. These rounds also have a variable fire rate, allowing for single-shot or automatic firing. #'Armour Piercing - Ammunition used to deal with individuals wearing various forms of body armour or Robots. Armour Piercing rounds are also powerful enough to go through multiple unarmoured perps. #'High-Explosive - '''Often shortened to "High-Ex", these rounds can be used when a situation calls for a forced entry into an area and there isn't time to wait for heavier reinforcements. #'Ricochet - Rubber infused ammunition used to shoot perps around corners and behind walls. Can be used in Hostage situations to allow Judges to shoot around hostage takers. #'Incendiary - ' Partially explosive rounds that ignite whatever target they hit. #'Heatseeker - ' Rounds that seek heat. Can be used in combination with incendiary rounds. Additionally, this model of Lawgiver also has an in-built Stun-Shot Energy Pulse system as well as the capability to fire clip-on Stumm Gas grenades. The MK II Lawgiver is also equipped with a "Fast-Focus" Viewfinder to facilitate rapid targeting. Appearance in Films 'Judge Dredd (1995)' In the 1995 film, the weapon used by the Judges was a visually modified version of the Lawgiver MK II. This weapon had its magazine in the grip rather than before the trigger. It also lacked the Stun-Shot function and didn't have the ability to fire grenades from the muzzle. The movie version also had additional fire modes. "Rapid Fire" fired automatic bursts. "Double Whammy" fired two homing shots at the same time at two different targets. At the Academy of Law, Judge Dredd (played by Sylvester Stallone) is seen demonstrating the Lawgiver, which has a clip of 25 rounds. The ammunition is referred to as "mission-variable" and "voice-programmed". Apparently the ammunition is a generic multi-purpose slug that turns into a specialized type (High Explosive, Armor-Piercing, etc.) when it is verbally designated by the operator. The High-Explosive round was called "Grenade". There is also a new "Signal Flare" ammunition (though it might be a different name for the Incendiary round). The anti-tampering boobytrap differed in that it gave a lethal shock rather than detonating an explosive charge. 'Dredd 3D (2012)' The Lawgiver resembles the Mk. II model. The "Hot Shot" round used in the standoff in the beginning of the movie is the Incendiary bullet. Category:Weapons